Failure to Attribute Credit - Case B8

Hal Strock was finishing the last year of his immunology postdoctoral
fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Ed Schwartz. Over time, he
had evolved from a veritable apprentice into a productive contributor
to the progress of the laboratory.

One day, Hal was asked to give a presentation of his work at a
departmental seminar. When offered an opportunity to rehearse, Hal
indicated that he believed that he was fully prepared. During the
seminar, Hal reviewed the main research progress of Professor
Schwartz's laboratory , including his own contributions. The work was
enthusiastically received by those outside Hal's lab and he fielded
the questions well. However, Hal's co-investigators and other lab
members, who were all in attendance, were strangely quiet
afterwards.

Over the course of the following week, Hal experienced aloofness
from Professor Schwartz and hostility from other members of the
laboratory, especially when he asked them about his performance at
the presentation. Hal decided to ask Professor Schwartz what was
wrong. Professor Schwartz said, "Hal, you failed to delineate your
limited contribution to the material in your presentation and you did
not give full credit to those in this laboratory and to others that
did most of the work. Not only have you upset your colleagues, some
might say your negligence constitutes plagiarism. Your colleagues
take as much pride as you do in their professional accomplishments
and have as much need for recognition. You will have a hard time
regaining their trust."

Chastened, Hal made an effort to apologize to all of his
colleagues.

Questions:

What are the principles underlying the responsible reporting of
research findings?

Recognition occurs in many forms. How would you go about
ensuring that the work of involved professional colleagues is
properly identified in an oral presentation, in an abstract, in a
paper? How do you identify your own contributions versus those of
your supervisor, colleagues, and predecessors?

Imagine yourself to be a colleague of Hal's in the first year
of your fellowship. You contributed substantially to the work he
presented, and Hal failed to give you appropriate attribution. If
Hal asked for your opinion on his performance, how would you
respond?

In this instance, what were Professor Schwartz's
responsibilities, if any, in preparing Hal for his
presentation?